It's Been a Long Road
With barely a month to go before its official publication date, and with a number of you asking me what's going on with it, I should really let everyone know how things with Strange New Worlds 10 have been...
For one thing, I got paid. ;) The advance was fairly modest in the grand scheme of things (though the anthology has a pretty good per-word rate by most short-story market standards), but it was the first time I've ever been paid for something I've written. As someone who has self-identified as a writer for a long time, that was a very significant moment for me.
Also significant was an email I received at the beginning of March from Jeff Ayers (author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion), asking me some interview questions for eventual inclusion in an article for Star Trek Magazine (published by Titan Magazines) on SNW 10 and the history of the anthology as a whole. Jeff's email was my first encounter (beyond the obvious approval implied in getting published) with feedback on the story from someone who isn't close to me, and (fortunately) he had nothing but kind words to say about "You Are Not In Space," so I was reassured. :)
More recently, the back cover text for the collection was released a few weeks ago, which you can read (along with an excerpted story) on Simon & Schuster's website. It's always cool to see one's name in print, even if neither the descriptions on the back cover nor the excerpt relate to my specific story...
Craziest and most surreal of all, however, is the fact that I'm going to be an official con guest for the first time. I was offered a free membership and guest status at Shore Leave 29 in Baltimore, and I even have my own listing page on their site now...which is, yes, a rather plain listing page at this point. The Writers' Liaison has asked for a bio and photo a few times, but (despite this being all about writing) I haven't really been able to come up with anything. :/ Any suggestions on how I should describe myself, and/or what type of photo I should use, would be most appreciated.
I'm thinking of it mostly as a "business trip" (especially since right now, it looks like I'll be going alone, which I know will be much more boring than the alternative *sigh*), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited by the idea of being at a signing table, or sharing a panel with other Star Trek authors and editors, or having people ask me questions about my story. Since all of those experiences are very new to me, I'll be doing my best to appreciate the adventure of it all.
Making it to Shore Leave might also prove to be an interesting adventure, as I'll have to budget carefully to make sure everything works out. (Oh, who am I kidding? Keeping me out of Chapters, Future Shop, HMV, and McNally Robinson for a few months should be enough to do the trick...)
Since I really want good things to come of this trip, and I know that there are several networking events (like a Meet-the-Pros Party and a "no-host writer breakfast") over the course of the con, I've been very nervous about the fact that I don't feel "prepared" enough for it--which goes beyond the fact that I haven't booked a flight or hotel room yet. It's just that there'll be so many guests there, and I haven't done any sort of catching up on current Star Trek releases. :( Originally, I'd hoped to go back and read the previous SNW anthologies, along with some of the more popular books from the past few years, but at this point, I'll be lucky if I manage to get through Voyages of the Imagination itself (even though Jeff Ayers indicated he wouldn't be there) so I can feel like I have a clue what I'm talking about when it comes to the wide world of Trek literature.
Looking at the list of writers in attendance, there are a few things I could do to "cram." Keith R.A. DeCandido (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
kradical) will be there, so I should at least finish Articles of the Federation, his well-received 2005 novel described as "The West Wing meets Star Trek;" and I've been meaning to pick up the two Mirror Universe collections which came out earlier this year (Glass Empires and Obsidian Alliances) regardless. That's a start, I suppose. Perhaps I won't seem too much like I'm living in the media tie-in publishing world of ten years ago...
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